Karma, Chameleon
by Chocolate X My Mouth
Summary: (Post-Ladybug fix it!) Lila gets exactly what's coming to her for her actions, Marinette and her parents are given justice, and Adrien is gifted with a heart-felt thank you from Marinette that establishes a deeper connection than ever between the two.


**I can't be the only one who feels like, while Ladybug was a good ep, Lila got off to easily. Adrien's deep voice was AMAZING, but I feel like she needed something more than a little slap on the wrist. **

**Hopefully, I can provide some satisfaction! :)**

* * *

"I am so sorry, Marinette!" Lila said, seeming... a bit too dramatic. "You see, I have this very rare disease that causes me to spew utter garbage. I have no control over it, and I really do apologize. I do hope we can swiftly move on from-"

"Hold on a minute, young lady," Mr. Damocles said, his stern face revealing itself once more. "I would like to ask you about this disease of yours."

"Yes, sir?" asked Lila innocently.

"Why was this not brought to the school's attention when you first enrolled? Moreover, why did your mother make no mention of it?" asked Mr. Damocles. "And from what I hear, you claimed to have tinnitus. Tell me, why have all of these diseases gone completely uninformed to the school?"

Lila seemed to freeze up for a second.

It was at that moment that Tom and Sabine fully realized that Lila was a flat-out liar, and they were going to look at it that way for anything else this pain of a student said about their girl.

"I-I don't know! I-I r-really swear, I thought that s-she told you all!" said Lila.

"That's quite interesting," said Mr. Damocles. "Because, according your medical chart that I was handed on the first day, your hearing is in pristine condition. As a matter of fact, you had it checked out before you came to school here, according to this!"

Again, Lila froze in place, and her teeth gritted in anger and shock.

"Well, until I get the full story," Mr. Damocles said, "for falsely accusing a student of something she did not do, and resulting in a mistaken expulsion, I have no choice but to suspend you for the rest of the week until we can get to the bottom of all of this. And after that, should you return to this school, you and Marinette will be in separate classes. I will be speaking with your mother as well, so we can find out what this disease of yours is once and for all, and update your medical record accordingly."

Mr. Damocles then gave a subtle nod to Marinette and her parents, who stepped out of the office with satisfaction.

Lila, meanwhile, shot a dirty glare at the three - however, the angry look Sabine shot right back was enough to make Lila briefly shrivel up in her seat like a neatly folded piece of paper.

As the three exited, each of them were able to breathe an individual sigh of relief. Finally, this nightmare of a day was beginning to show its silver lining...

"MARINETTE!"

A sudden voice rang out from down the hall, and none other than her own teacher, Mme. Bustier, came jogging up to meet her and her parents; her face just screamed apologetic, and she looked so sorry. It actually pained Marinette to see her normally enthusiastic teacher so distraught.

"Mme. Bustier? Is something else wrong?" Marinette asked in distress.

"Oh, with you? Oh no, absolutely not," she said. "I just... I wanted to personally apologize to your for today. I should've been a better teacher; I should've handled the situation better, but I didn't-"

"Please, Mme. Bustier, don't blame yourself," Marinette said. "The day is over, and Lila's getting her comeuppance. There's been enough blame put on everyone else's shoulders; I can't let the blame fall on anyone else."

"Okay... Okay, thank you, Marinette," said Mme. Bustier, smiling softly. "Please, if there is anything I can do to try and make this up to you, just let me know. I'll be more than happy to get it done for you."

Marinette smiled widely, and hugged her teacher happily. "Thank you, Mme. Bustier..."

The teacher smiled even wider, and gladly hugged her lovely student back; as she did so, she looked up to face Marinette's parents. "I would also like to apologize to you two, for putting you both through this awful situation. I understand if you would like to take Marinette out of my class after this-"

"What? Not at all!" Tom said. "Like Marinette said, its clear where the blame falls - its not on you."

"Please, don't beat yourself up, Caline," smiled Sabine. "You were just doing your job, and we will never criticize anyone for doing what they are meant to do. You were just in a bad spot, that's all."

Caline couldn't wipe the smile off her face if she tried; oh, it felt good to clear her conscience of this day!

"Thank you all so much," she beamed, finally separating from Marinette. "I hope you all have an amazing day after all of this."

"Thank you so much," Sabine smiled. "I truly do think we will."

And with that, the Dupain-Chengs walked out of the school, smiles on all of their faces.

Justice had, at long last, been served.

* * *

_**5:30 PM**_

Tom and Sabine were finally able to relax after an excruciatingly long day; both they and Marinette had been deeply burdened throughout this Monday, but now, at long last, it was coming to a close. They only had a few more minutes before they could finally close up shop... and then, the door rang out.

Now, normally, Sabine would be a bit disgruntled if a customer came in literally last minute.

However, in her peripheral vision, she saw who said customer was, and her heart couldn't be more pleased.

"Adrien!" she smiled happily. "What can I do for you, my boy?"

"H-Hello Mrs. Cheng!" Adrien smiled. "Uhm... i-is, well, d-do you think-"

"Let me guess... you would like to see Marinette?" she asked knowingly, giving him a smile.

Adrien's blush was all she needed to confirm her suspicions.

"Well, I can't guarantee she isn't napping; poor thing's had a full day of chaos, as you know," said Sabine sadly. "However, if there's anyone she'd want to see after such a day, I know you're at the top of her list. I'll go see if she's available right now, but if not, feel free to stick around until she wakes up."

"O-Okay," Adrien nodded thankfully. "Thank you so much!"

"You're welcome, darling," Sabine smiled.

He followed her up to the living quarters section of the bakery, and took a seat on the sofa as Sabine went to go check on Marinette.

Sure enough, the young girl was napping soundly.

"Marinette?" her mom asked softly.

"Hmm?" Marinette muttered, turning over. "Oh... hi maman..."

"You have a visitor, sweetie," Sabine smiled.

"Mmm..." Marinette grunted lightly. "If its not Adrien or Alya, tell them I'll talk to them tomorrow... or just later... don't know if I'm ready for forgiveness just yet."

"And that is perfectly okay, sweetie," Sabine said gently. "However, it is Adrien. And I think he really wants to see you."

Marinette stretched and yawned, slowly raising herself out of her covers. "Can you tell him to come up in a min'? I need to make myself look decent..."

Sabine giggled lightly. "Of course, honey. Let me know when you're ready for him!"

Marinette gave a nod and a smile, and with that, Sabine walked back down the ladder to go inform Adrien.

"O-Oh, if I woke her up, I don't want to intrude," Adrien said.

"You're too much of a gentleman sometimes!" Sabine laughed good-naturedly. "But, in all seriousness, she really does want to see you. She just wants to make herself look, well, in her own words - decent."

"Oh, thank the Lord!" Adrien said. "I was so worried she wouldn't want to see me after today..."

"Not see you? After today?" Sabine almost laughed. "Adrien, I think its quite plausible that you are her favorite person after the events of today!"

"Well, that's awful generous of you, ma'am," smiled Adrien. "But, I mean... I couldn't stop her getting expelled. I wasn't even able to support her afterwards... I really don't know if-"

"Young man, you listen to me," Sabine said, firmly but with good intent in her heart. "You did absolutely everything in your power today to prevent my girl from being wrongfully expelled; for that, I cannot possibly thank you enough. We as a whole could never thank you enough. You did all you could, and that's great enough for us. And plus, you will be happy to know that we were able to fix it at the end of the day!"

"Wh-What?" Adrien stammered in excitement. "M-Marinette's coming back?!"

"Yes, she is!" Sabine smiled. "And Lila has been suspended for the rest of the week; supposedly, she has a disease that makes her spout trash. I highly doubt it even exists."

Adrien chuckled at that. "I've heard some absurd stuff, but that... no, that doesn't take the cake. Today as a whole already ate that cake."

"Indeed," Sabine laughed lightly. "Well, I think Marinette should be ready by now... would you like to go on up and see her?"

"Sure," Adrien smiled.

And with that, Adrien ascended the flight of stairs that led up to Marinette's room.

-0-

"Marinette?" asked Adrien softly, entering her room via the trapdoor.

"Hey Adrien," Marinette yawned, sitting down on her chaise - she'd be burning up out of embarrassment for being in her pajamas in front of Adrien, if it weren't for the fact that she was absolutely _wiped _after today. Her tiredness was enough to keep her nerves calmed down.

"I hope I didn't wake you up," Adrien smiled sheepishly, stepping a bit closer to her with his head rubbing his hair shyly.

"What? Nah, you're good," Marinette smiled, scooting over on her chaise. "C'mon. Let's talk about today... I need to talk about today."

"Okay, of course," Adrien said, sitting down next to Marinette. "Uhm... w-what would you like to talk about?"

"Well... its more so me wanting to thank you," Marinette smiled tiredly. "Y'know, for staying with me today... had it not've been for you, I'd probably be in bed right now, crying over the fact that a liar was able to get me expelled. You literally saved me today... thank you, Adrien."

Adrien smiled happily. "Its no problem, Mari-"

"It is a big deal, Adrien," Marinette insisted. "You defended me until the end... and with full confidence too. That's... that's something I can't ever ask out of a person... but you did it. For me. Thank you so much..."

Marinette was so tired, she thought this may have all been a dream of hers... so she leaned over, and pecked Adrien on the cheek.

Adrien quickly blushed, and rubbed the spot where she had kissed him in surprise. She then smiled, said another thank you to him, and closed her eyes. He didn't blame her for being absolutely wiped, not whatsoever. She earned a good, long rest after today.

But then, she muttered something in her drowsy state as she began to slip off into dreamland.

"You're my hero..."

Hearing that as Chat Noir was one thing.

But as Adrien?

The kid might as well have been on Cloud 9 at that very moment. Hearing Marinette, a person he looked up to so much, call him her hero... it struck a chord with him, and it made him very, very happy. He then heard her snoring, and her posture might result in her spine looking like a pretzel the next morning if she didn't lay down.

So, being the gentleman he was, Adrien let her lay down on the chaise, and grabbed a blanket laying in the corner of the room, throwing it over her and tucking her in underneath it. He propped her head up underneath a few pillows, and smiled down at the absolutely undeniably-radiant sight that was Marinette fast asleep.

Another smile came to his face, and he knelt down in front of her sleeping form. "Sleep tight, Princess," he whispered under his breath, pressing a kiss to her hand.

And with that, Adrien exited the bakery as quietly as he had come in. He gave a wave goodbye to Sabine and Tom, and then began his walk back home with a pep in his step.

"Plagg," Adrien said happily, "I really don't know if this day could've gone any better."

"Well, it still can get better!" Plagg said. "I expect a nice, long cheese meal when we get back home!"

Adrien chuckled. "You're lucky I'm in a good mood, otherwise you'd end up being in a sour one."

-0-

_**Next Monday...**_

Marinette was making slow, but steady progress with her classmates.

She was always going to be polite to them, that was a given; she just had to work on them being her friends again after what happened. Adrien and Alya were the only ones in the class completely exempt from this, since they had taken a stand for her back when the whole debacle with Lila went down. Surprisingly, Chloe had also believed her, but refused to admit it to anyone but Sabrina (she had overheard this in the locker room).

Speaking of Lila, ever since she had been suspended, Marinette hadn't had a single hitch. In fact, school had gone very well for her! But today, she was coming back. And Marinette had forgotten this.

However, a certain blonde had not.

The minute Marinette walked into school, Adrien stood boldly beside her, not saying a word. In addition to that, he wrapped his arm around her

"A-Adrien?" Marinette asked. "W-What are you-"

"Just keep walking, Mari," said Adrien reassuringly. "I promise it'll be worth it."

Marinette really didn't know what to think, but she trusted Adrien. When they finally stopped walking together, Adrien motioned for Marinette to turn around with him.

When the two turned back...

They saw someone greeting Lila at the school gate.

_Kagami._

"Oh God," Marinette whispered, covering her mouth, expecting something completely different than what was actually happening.

"You know Kagami loves you like a sister, especially since you are one of her first real friends ever," said Adrien. "Well, during fencing last Friday, I finally told her about Lila... ooh, oh she was _pissed._"

"So why she's talking to her like a friend?" asked Marinette, still not putting the pieces together.

"I really don't know if Lila will see Kagami as anything but someone to be feared by the end of the day, trust me," Adrien almost chuckled. "With what Kagami told me, I almost... nah, I don't feel bad for Lila."

Marinette smiled up at Adrien. "Can I say thank you again? For standing up for me?"

"That makes thirty eight times," Adrien chuckled, smiling down at his wonderful friend. "But, as always - you're welcome, Mari. I'll always have your back."

And then, the two walked off to the lockers together...

But, just for "safety precautions", Adrien wrapped his arm around Marinette again.

Y'know, for reasons.

* * *

**Thank you guys so much for reading! Hope this lil story provided some much needed satisfaction with Lila's punishment. :) If you would be so kind as to leave a review, I'd love to hear what you thought of the story! And just your thoughts on Ladybug and/or Startrain in general! :D**

**Well, I'll see you guys next time! Thank you all so much for reading :) Love you all!**


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